Pharmaceutics-III

(Microbiology and
Immunology)
Sidratul Muntaha
Lecturer
Rawal college of pharmacy, Islamabad
Chapter 01

General
Microbiology
Learning objectives

 What is microbiology  Types of micro-organisms

 Branches of microbiology  Nomenclature
 History of microbiology
 Cell theory
 Germ theory
 Contributions of scientists
 Scope in Pharmaceutical sciences
Definition and Introduction of
Microbiology
 Microbiology is the study of microscopic organisms e.g. bacteria,
algae, fungi, protozoa and viruses.
 Microbiology is the study of microorganisms that are too small to be
seen without a microscope.
 Microorganisms usually less than 1mm in diameter which requires
some form of magnification to be seen clearly.

 Most Of the microbes are harmless, 99% are good e.g. cyanobacteria
(blue green algae)
1% is harmful e.g. pathogens
Historical Introduction

 The history of microbiology began with:

 Discovery era in the 17th century when Antonie Van Leeuwenhoek
first observed microbes using microscopes.
 The golden era started in the 19th century when Louis Pasteur
disproved spontaneous generation and demonstrated that microbes
cause disease. Major advances included Robert Koch developing
techniques to isolate bacteria in pure culture and prove specific
bacteria cause specific diseases.
 The modern era saw the discovery of viruses, development of
vaccines, and molecular understanding of genetics and DNA.
1. Observation/ Discovery era
 In 1665, after observing a thin slice of cork through a crude microscope,
Robert Hooke reported that life’s smallest structural units were “little
boxes,” or “cells.” Hooke’s discovery marked the beginning of the cell
theory, the theory that all living things are composed of cell.
 Though Hooke’s microscope was capable of showing large cells, it
lacked the resolution that would have allowed him to see microbes
clearly.
 Dutch merchant and amateur scientist Anton van Leeuwenhoek was
probably the first to observe live micro-organisms through the
magnifying lenses of the more than 400 microscopes he constructed.
 Between 1673 and 1723, he wrote about the “animalcules” he saw
through his simple, single lens microscopes.
 Van Leeuwenhoek made detailed drawings of organisms he found in
rainwater, feces, and material scraped from teeth. These drawings
have since been identified as representations of bacteria and
protozoa.
2. Spontaneous Generation
 After van Leeuwenhoek discovered the previously “invisible” world
of microorganisms, the scientific community became interested in
the origins of these tiny living things.
 Until the second half of the 19th century, many scientists and
philosophers believed that some forms of life could arise
spontaneously from nonliving matter, called hypothetical process
spontaneous generation.
 Many years ago, people commonly believed that toads, snakes,
and mice could be born of moist soil that flies could emerge from
manure and that maggots could arise from decaying corpses.
The Theory of Biogenesis
 Using the Theory of biogenesis, German scientist Rudolf
Virchow questioned the evidence for spontaneous generation, claiming
that living cells may only develop from preexisting living cells. Because
he could not provide scientific proof, the debate over spontaneous
creation raged on until 1861, when the French scientist Louis Pasteur
finally put an end to it.
 The spontaneous generation controversy was a long-
standing debate in biology about whether living organisms
could arise from non-living matter.
 Louis Pasteur was a French chemist and microbiologist who
is best known for his work on disproving spontaneous
generation.
 In 1859, he designed a simple but elegant experiment to
test the theory.
 This experiment proved that microorganisms do not arise
spontaneously from non-living matter. Instead, they come from
other microorganisms.
 He established decisively that heat can destroy microbial life.
 These findings represent the foundation of aseptic techniques,
which prevent contamination by undesired bacteria.
3. Golden Era (1857-1914)
 Pasteur's work on spontaneous generation helped in the Golden Age
of Microbiology, a period of rapid scientific progress in the field.
 During this time, scientists made many important discoveries about
microorganisms, including their role in disease and their potential
for industrial uses.
 Some of the most notable achievements of the Golden Age of
Microbiology include:
1) The discovery of the germ theory of disease, which led to the
development of new treatments and vaccines for many infectious
diseases.
2) The development of new methods for cultivating and studying
microorganisms.
3) The discovery of industrial uses for microorganisms, such as in
beer brewing and cheese making.
The Germ Theory
 Contributions of Pasteur:
 Prior to Pasteur's work, it was widely believed that air was
responsible for the conversion of sugars in these fluids into alcohol.
However, Pasteur demonstrated that microorganisms called yeasts
are responsible for this process, even in the absence of air. This
process is known as fermentation.
 Pasteur also discovered that different microorganisms called bacteria
are responsible for souring and spoilage. In the presence of air,
these bacteria convert alcohol into vinegar (acetic acid), known as
acetic fermentation.
 To address the spoilage problem, Pasteur developed a process of
heating beer and wine to a temperature just high enough to kill the
majority of the spoilage-causing bacteria. This process, known
as pasteurization,.
 It is now widely used to reduce spoilage and kill potentially harmful
bacteria in milk and other foods and beverages.
List of Contributions in Golden
Era

• Kitasato—Clostridium tetani  Lister—Aseptic surgery

• Von Bering*—Diphtheria  Koch*—Germ theory of disease
• Antitoxin Ehrlich*—Theory of  Neisser—Neisseria
immunity
 gonorrhoeae Koch*—Pure cultures
• Winogradsky—Sulfur cycle
 Finlay—Yellow fever
• Shiga—Shigella dysenteriae
 Koch*—Mycobacterium tuberculosis
• Ehrlich*—Syphilis treatment
 Hess—Agar (solid) media
• Chagas—Trypanosoma cruzi
 Koch*—Vibrio cholerae
• Rous*—Tumor-causing virus
 Metchnikoff*—Phagocytosis
• Pasteur—Fermentation  Gram—Gram-staining procedure
• Pasteur—Disproved spontaneous 
generation Escherich—Escherichia

• Pasteur—Pasteurization
Scope of Microbiology
Vaccination
 The smallpox vaccine is an example. Almost 70 years before Koch
established that a specific microorganism causes anthrax, Edward
Jenner, a young British physician, embarked on an experiment to find a
way to protect people from smallpox.
 When a young milkmaid informed Jenner that she couldn’t get smallpox
because she already had been sick from cowpox— a much milder
disease—he decided to put the girl’s story to the test.
Experimental history:
 Jenner collected scrapings from cowpox blisters.
 Then he inoculated a healthy 8-year-old volunteer with the cowpox
material by scratching the child’s arm with a pox-contaminated needle.
 The scratch turned into a raised bump.
 In a few days, the volunteer became mildly sick but recovered and
never again contracted either cowpox or smallpox.
Scope of Microbiology

 Vaccines are now available for numerous diseases, including measles,

rubella (German measles), mumps, chickenpox, pneumococcal
pneumonia, tetanus, tuberculosis, influenza, whooping cough, polio,
and hepatitis B etc.
 Public health officials estimate that polio will be eradicated within a
few years because of the polio vaccine.
Assignment!

 List of at least 10 vaccines that are available in Islamabad with their

brand name and further description.
 Also paste image of that brand.
Scope of Microbiology
Synthetic drugs:
 Extract from the bark of cinchona tree quinine, which had been
used to treat malaria.
 Treatment of disease by using chemical substances is called
chemotherapy.
 The success of chemotherapy is based on the fact that some
chemicals are more poisonous to microorganisms than to the
hosts infected by the microbes.
Scope of Microbiology
Antibiotics
 Chemicals produced naturally by bacteria and fungi that act against other
microorganisms are called antibiotics.
 The first antibiotic was discovered by accident.
Experiment:
 Alexander Fleming, took some culture plates that had been contaminated
by mold.
 Fortunately, he noticed the curious pattern of growth on the plates, a
clear area where bacterial growth had been inhibited encircled the mold.
 Fleming was looking at a mold that inhibited growth of a bacterium.
 The mold became known as Penicillium chrysogenum and I the mold’s
active inhibitor was called penicillin.
Discovery of Penicillin
Branches of Microbiology
1) Bacteriology: Study of bacteria, began with van Leeuwenhoek’s
first examination of tooth scrapings.
2) Mycology: Study of fungi. Accounting for 10% of hospital acquired
infections.
3) Parasitology: study of protozoa and parasitic worms. Because
many parasitic worms are large enough to be seen with the unaided
eye.
4) Immunology: the study of immunity.
5) Virology: The study of viruses. It is originated during the First
Golden Age of Microbiology.
6) Microbial genetics: Study of mechanisms by which microorganisms
inherit traits.
7) Molecular biology: How genetic information is carried in molecules
of DNA.
8) Genomics: The study of an organism’s genes. scientists are able to
classify bacteria and fungi according to their genetic relationships
with one another.
Nomenclature
 The system of nomenclature (naming) for organisms in use today was
established in 1735 by Carolus Linnaeus.
 Scientific names are latinized because Latin was the language traditionally
used by scholars.
 Scientific nomenclature assigns each organism two names—the genus (plural:
genera) is the first name and is always capitalized; the specific epithet
(species name) follows and is not capitalized.
 Scientific names can, among other things, describe an organism, honor a
researcher, or identify the habitat of a species.
For example:
 Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylo- describes the clustered arrangement of the
cells.
 -coccus indicates that they are shaped like spheres.
 aureus, is Latin for golden, the color of many colonies of this bacterium.
Names Source of genus name Source of special
epithet
Salmonella enterica Honors public health Found in the
(bacterium) microbiologist Daniel intestines (entero-
Salmon
Streptococcus Appearance of cells in Forms pus (pyo-
pyogenes (bacterium) chains (strepto-)
Saccharomyces Fungus (-myces) that Makes beer
cerevisiae (yeast) uses sugar (saccharo-) (cerevisia)
Penicillium Tuftlike or paintbrush Produces a yellow
chrysogenum (fungus) (penicill-) appearance (chryso-) pigment
microscopically
Trypanosoma cruzi Corkscrew- (trypano-, Honors
(protozoan) borer; soma-, body) epidemiologist
Oswaldo Cruz
Trypanosoma cruzi

Salmonella enterica
Penicillium chrysogenum

Streptococcus pyogenes
Types of Micro-organisms
 It is very important to know the different types of microorganisms in
order to treat infections.
 For example, antibiotics can be used to treat bacterial infections but
have no effect on viruses or other microbes.
1. Bacteria
2. Archaea
3. Fungi
4. Protozoa
5. Algae
6. Viruses
7. Parasites
Bacteria:
 Bacteria are relatively simple.
 Unicellular organisms.
 Because their genetic material is not enclosed in a special nuclear
membrane, bacterial cells are called prokaryotes.
 Bacteria are enclosed in cell walls that are largely composed of a
carbohydrate and protein complex called peptidoglycan.
 Bacteria generally reproduce by dividing into two equal cells; this process is
called binary fission
Different Shapes of bacteria:
1. bacillus- (rod like)
2. Coccus (spherical or ovoid)
3. Spiral (corkscrew or curved)
Structure of bacteria
Archaea

 Like bacteria, archaea consist of prokaryotic cells.

 If they have cell walls, the walls lack peptidoglycan.
 It often found in extreme environments.
 They are divided into three main groups.
1. The methanogens produce methane as a waste product from respiration.
2. The extreme halophiles (halo = salt; philic = loving) live in extremely salty
environments such as the Great Salt Lake and the Dead Sea.
3. the extreme thermophiles (therm = heat) live in hot sulfurous water, such as hot
springs at Yellowstone National Park.
 Archaea are not known to cause disease in humans.
Fungi
 Fungi are eukaryotes.
 Organisms whose cells have a distinct nucleus containing the cell’s
genetic material (DNA), surrounded by nuclear membrane.
 Organisms in the Kingdom Fungi may be unicellular or multicellular.
 Large multicellular fungi, such as mushrooms, may look some what like
plants, but unlike most plants, fungi cannot carry out photosynthesis.
 True fungi have cell walls composed primarily of a substance called chitin.
 The unicellular forms of fungi, yeasts, are oval microorganisms that are
larger than bacteria.
 The most typical fungi are molds.
 Fungi can reproduce sexually or asexually.
 They obtain nourishment from their environment whether soil, seawater,
freshwater, or an animal or plant host.
 Organisms called slime molds are actually ameba-like protozoa.
Protozoa

 Protozoa are unicellular, eukaryotic microbes.

 Protozoa move by pseudopods, flagella, or cilia.
 Amebae move by using extensions of their cytoplasm called
pseudopods (false feet).
 Other protozoa have long flagella or numerous shorter
appendages for locomotion called cilia.
 Protozoa have a variety of shapes and live either as free
entities or as parasites that absorb or ingest organic
compounds from their environment.
 Some protozoa, such as Euglena are photosynthetic. They use
light as a source of energy and carbon dioxide as their chief
source of carbon to produce sugars.
 Protozoa can reproduce sexually or asexually.
Algae
 Algae are photosynthetic eukaryotes with a wide variety of shapes and
both sexual and asexual reproductive forms.
 The cell walls of many algae are composed of a carbohydrate called
cellulose.
 Algae are abundant in freshwater and saltwater, in soil, and in
association with plants.
 As photo synthesizer, algae need light, water, and carbon dioxide for
food production and growth, but they do not generally require organic
compounds from the environment.
 As a result of photosynthesis, algae produce oxygen and carbohydrates
that are then utilized by other organisms, including animals. Thus, they
play an important role in the balance of nature.
 Viruses
 Viruses are very different from the other microbial groups.
 They are so small that most can be seen only with an electron
microscope, and they are acellular
 Structurally very simple.
 A virus particle contains a core made of only one type of nucleic acid,
either DNA or RNA. This core is surrounded by a protein coat, which is
encased by a lipid membrane called an envelope.
 Reproduce only by using the cellular machinery of other organisms.
 Viruses are not considered to be living because they are inert outside
living hosts.
Difference between electron and light microscope:
 A beam of electrons is used in electron microscope for magnifying the
image of an object while visible light is used in the light microscope.
 Electron microscope has high magnification.
Animal Parasites
 Although multicellular animal parasites are not strictly
microorganisms, they have medical importance.
 Animal parasites are eukaryotes. The two major groups of
parasitic worms are the flatworms and the roundworms,
collectively called helminths.
 During some stages of their life cycle, helminths are microscopic
in size.
Classification of Micro-organisms:
Classification of Micro-organisms

1) Five Kingdom System of Classification:

In 1969, Whittaker proposed a five kingdom system that consists of:
 Kingdom of Plantae
 Kingdom of Fungi
 Kingdom of Animalia
 Kingdom of Protista
 Kingdom Monera
Mode of Nutrition

 Photosynthesis is the mode of nutrition in kingdom plantae.

 Absorptive mode of nutrition in kingdom fungi.
 Ingestion is the mode of nutrition in kingdom Animalia.
 Protista kingdom has autotrophic and heterotrophic modes of
nutrition.
 Same with Kingdom Monera.
Classification of Micro-organisms

2) Six Kingdom System of Classification

It consists of:
 Eu-Bacteria
 Arachaeo-Bacteria
 Protista
 Plantae
 Animalia
 Fungi
Classification of Micro-organisms
3) Eight Kingdom System of Classification
 On the basis of ultrastructure of cell and genetic organizations, all
organisms are divided into 2 empires i.e Empire Bacteria and Empire
Eukaryota.
 Empire Bacteria contains Eubacteria and Aracheobacteria.
 Empire Eukaryota is further divided into Arachezoa, Chromista,
Protista, Fungi, Plantae, Animalia.
Classification of Micro-organisms

4) Three Domain System of Classification

 As the Bacteria, they are different from plants and animals therefore
a new concept of domain over kingdom was established in 1991.
 These three domains includes :
Bacteria
Arachaea
Eukarya.
Outcomes

 Importance of observations made by Hooke and van Leeuwenhoek.

 Spontaneous generation and biogenesis.
 Pasture’s Contributions
 Kingdom systems
 Naming of Micro-organisms
Reference books:

 Microbiology an Introduction by Tortora.

 Microbiology by Lavinson.
 Microbiology Principles and Expalanation.
 A Textbook of Microbiology by Dr. R.C. Dubey
Thankyou!